|
Editor of Editor
of Author of
|
Welcome to these regular musings, meanderings, wonderings and wanderings by Wendy Priesnitz. Blog Archives Highlights - Books The New Radicals – March 14, 2008 Moulden says the new radicals are often boomers who as a generation already had been part of big social movements such as women’s rights and who want to continue principled work. The idea makes for a good read, but there’s nothing new about it. This is also known as social entrepreneurship and the term was first used in the literature on social change in the 1960s and ‘70s. It was certainly in use in the mid ‘70s when my husband and business partner Rolf and I went off the money track to start our “new radical/social entrepreneurship” publishing business. The term came into more widespread use in the 1980s and ‘90s, promoted by people like Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Bill Drayton, the founder of Ashoka.. I believe that all entrepreneurship should be for the good of society, which is a very radical thought. I fail to see the point of any human enterprise that is otherwise, meaning that it destroys society, health or the environment. Likewise for any economic structure or policy that encourage destructiveness. Further, I think the notion that business=bad and non-profit=good is very out-dated. But all of this makes me wonder: I’m already a radical, which means I can’t be a new one. So does that make me an old radical???? Posted: 2000/03/14 11:28 AM Lightening My Mood to Match My Footprint – January 1, 2008 Then why is my biggest problem not lightening my footprint but my mood? I keep wondering if all the sacrifices individuals are making really matter if governments and industry don’t stop dithering. And the greenwash gets me down. A few months ago, a PR firm sent me a whole case full of water in plastic bottles sourced from a spring in Fiji…accompanied by a press release telling me how it is the first bottled water brand to go carbon negative...quite a trick if they are planning to offset all that plastic and other packaging, as well as the processing and transportation involved with providing something I can get from my own kitchen faucet. Then I read about how an eight-passenger SUV won the “Green Car of the Year” award at the Los Angeles Auto Show. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was quoted as drooling, “They’ve proven that they can make beautiful cars, strong cars, keep the size, keep the safety, and all those kinds of things, and at the same time be more fuel efficient.” Maybe his heart is in the right place. After all, it is Hollywood. And Hollywood, says American author, columnist and blogger Arianna Huffington, “has gone from the capital of conspicuous consumption to the cutting edge of conspicuous conservation.” So I’m trying to keep my senses of humor and perspective. One of the ways I’m doing that is by working on the launch of Life Media’s third periodical – Natural Child Magazine, which grew out of the Natural Child column that has been a feature of Natural Life for so many years. Starting my own family almost 36 years ago is what got me on this road to a greener, fairer world, after all. Maybe the “natural children” in my family and their peers will be able to solve the problems my generation has created. Another way that I’m trying to stay hopeful for the future is by writing and reading. One of the writers whose books I’ll be exploring more thoroughly this year is a Tibetan Buddhist nun named Pema Chodron. She is a teacher at Gampo Abbey in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, the first Tibetan monastery for Westerners. Her books have titles that are well suited to these times, including No Time to Lose, The Places that Scare You, When Things Fall Apart, and Start Where You Are. And what better place to begin than with a quote from the latter title: “The best gift you can give yourself is to lighten up.” Enjoy 2008 and keep a light heart to
accompany your lightened footprint. Sharing
the Pleasure of Books –
November 19, 2007
Some of my skepticism relates to the fact that computer use is seen as a villain rather than an alternative source of words to be read, and that comprehension is based on my old enemy standardized tests. But I am happy to read that NEA chairman Dana Gioia feels this supposed decline in reading is an important socio-economic issue and is calling for changes “in the way we’re educating kids, especially in high school and college. We need to reconnect reading with pleasure and enlightenment.” Now there’s an earth-shattering idea! Of course, it’s an idea that
unschoolers have known about all along. And a couple in Ottawa
has created a terrific tool for families who like to read. It’s a
children’s book podcast called Just One More Book! Three times a week,
Andrea Ross and Mark Blevis sit at a table in their favorite coffee shop and record
their conversation about the children’s books their family (they have
two young daughters) loves and why they love them. They also feature
weekly interviews with authors, literacy related discussions and audio
reviews submitted by listeners. Episodes range in length from five to 30
minutes and can be played directly from the website
or downloaded to an iPod for listening on the
go. Through this podcast and its website, this family is building a
lively, interactive community linking children’s book authors,
illustrators, readers (parents and children) and publishers. Here’s to
reading for pleasure and enlightenment! (Oh, and thanks for reading this
blog...even if it is not a book.) Learning from the Learners – September 2, 2007
I’ve just finished his latest book, a memoir
called Painting Chinese: A Lifelong Teacher Gains the Wisdom of Youth (Bloomsbury,
2007). Honestly and humbly, Kohl describes how, late in a productive
life and searching for something new to engage in, he stumbled into a
Chinese painting class…where his fellow students were all young
Chinese children. He writes about studying alongside the children while
reflecting on his life. Painting took on a meditative quality and helped
him come to terms with waning energy and the cancellation of a beloved
university program. But more importantly to me, the supportive
environment and hands-on, noncompetitive learning process he experienced
in the painting classes led him to articulate things he’s danced
around in his long career as writer, educator and social justice
advocate. Kohl’s body of work is focused on helping teachers fit the
square peg of unstructured creative learning into the round hole of
school environments. Learning with children rather than teaching them
has given him a seemingly new perspective. “Children,” he writes,
“when unencumbered by adult demands and channeling educational
structures, are extraordinary watchers and learn through what they see
and experience.” A Potholder Hug – August 12, 2007
I put this emotionalism down to family
circumstances and my age until I neared the end of the book
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara
Kingsolver.
This is the story of how the author’s family documented a year of
procuring as much of their food as possible from neighboring farms and
their own backyard. In one chapter, Kingsolver writes about how food
anchors holiday traditions and how she – somewhat like I – had
subconsciously “spent years denying the good in that.” Fortunately,
like I did, she got over that and now embraces all the food-related
celebrations, including one at the beginning of November called Dia de
los Muertos – the Mexican Day of the
Dead. As she describes it, this entirely happy ritual has its roots in
Aztec culture, where the Lady of the Dead presided over rituals (many
food-related) that welcomed dead friends and ancestors back among the
living. Aside from the fact that Dia de los Muertos seems like a welcome
antidote to Hallowe’en, which I have never enjoyed because it characterizes death as grotesque and
scary, it creates a reason for remembering – a “potholder hug” as
Kingsolver dubs it with her gentle wit. As I read her words: “When I
cultivate my garden I’m spending time with my grandfather, sometimes
recalling deeply buried memories of him,” I realized the source of my
recent kitchen emotionalism. When I’m cooking certain dishes, I am
experiencing the emotions attached to the person who taught me how to
cook a certain dish, or with whom I used to cook it. And I give those
memories a potholder hug. A World-Changing Legacy – May 27, 2007
Broadening Their Horizons – February 1, 2007
This is a novel about significant social issues like
racism and morality. Its content is pretty
innocuous compared to what’s available to teens on the Internet and in
movies (and the book was actually made into an Oscar-nominated film.)
And there is, for me, a fascinating irony here. The author is David Guterson. He was a high school English teacher before
he was able to support himself as a novelist. And, as the father of
four, he was/is a homeschooler whose book Family Matters: Why
Homeschooling Makes Sense was first published in 1992. In it, he talks
about the complete breakdown of our school systems, including their
increasing social irrelevancy. I don’t remember if he talked about
censorship specifically, but his idea of homeschooling (a term that he said he hoped
would disappear from use, a sentiment with which I heartily agree) is to broaden his children’s horizons, which includes
allowing culture to have a life outside of classrooms. Try to tell
that to the censors...parents and school officials alike. Learning from Living …and Video Games –
September 1, 2006 Although Johnson doesn’t say so, this is a great
argument for life learning. There is another not-bad one (plus a plug
for Life Learning magazine) in yesterday’s Kansas City Star. Thanks to the local unschooling group there, the members of which
I assume passed along our contact info to the reporter. September University – July 24, 2006 A Life That Mattered – April 25, 2006 Born in Pennsylvania and later a resident of New York City, Jacobs moved to Toronto in the late 60s with her family in order to avoid her sons being drafted into the Viet Nam war. She said later that she’d fallen out of love with her country. However, while living in New York, she successfully stopped the construction of a neighborhood-damaging expressway, and she repeated that activism in Toronto as one of the leaders of the movement to stop the construction of the Spadina Expressway, which would have destroyed wide swaths of old neighborhoods in the downtown part of the city, where she lived until she died. Her first book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, published in 1961, was a bible for urban organizers, favoring the small scale of low-rise local neighborhoods, which include both commercial and residential activity. Neither right wing nor left wing in her “small-p” politics, she favored grassroots action over big government. She also, like me, scorned many “isms” and was, I think, anti-expert, saying more than once that ideologies are blinders. She was a magnificently successful example of passion and intellectual curiosity being the road to self-education. Beyond a few courses at Columbia University, she was self-taught and reportedly turned down many of the honorary degrees that were offered to her late in life. David Crombie, a former may or of Toronto and a long-time friend and admirer, has described her as a “Harvard refusenik.” A friend of unschooling proponent John Holt, Jane
attended and spoke at a memorial service that some of us organized for
him in Toronto in 1985. Like Holt, she was an authentic thinker who avoided jargon and
questioned received ideas that were presented as fact. She had a great
and creative life, one that mattered in very many ways. And besides her
books and the non-existent freeways, she has left a huge legacy of
ideas. In 1997, the City of Toronto sponsored a conference entitled “Jane Jacobs: Ideas That Matter.”.
One of the results of the conference was The Jane Jacobs Prize. It
includes an annual stipend of $5,000 for three years to be given to
“celebrate Toronto’s original, unsung heroes – by seeking out citizens who are engaged
in activities that contribute to the city’s vitality.” Upon
announcing her death today, her family issued a statement that read in
part: “What’s important is not that she died but that she lived, and
that her life’s work has greatly influenced the way we think. Please
remember her by reading her books and implementing her ideas.” And, I
would add, by replicating her ever-questioning, independent way of
thinking about the world. Trusting
Ourselves and Our Children Is Not Regressive – April 1, 2005 I have been exploring some of those issues – both in my own life and in a broader context – as a result of the reader feedback I’ve been receiving to a recent Life Learning magazine column (see my March 21, 2005 blog entry – “Learning Neatness”). As part of that exploration, I am reading a book entitled The Paradox of Natural Mothering (2002, Temple University Press). Academic Chris Bobel has massaged her dissertation into a book that portrays a group of mothers engaged in homeschooling, natural health care, voluntary simplicity and various attachment parenting practices. The paradox in the title arises from what Bobel sees as a conflict between a lifestyle that is both progressive and regressive (i.e. anti-feminist). While the women she interviewed feel they are making choices in their lives, Bobel denigrates these as non-choices that are biologically determined because they are emotionally-based rather than intellectually thought-out. (Presumably, if they’d thought about their choices, they’d have behaved like more conventional mothers!) What these mothers are, in fact, doing is trusting their emotions, their intuition, their bodies and their children. Perhaps our societal agendas have swung us so far away
from the inherent “knowing” that characterizes primitive societies
that so-called “natural parenting” seems to contradict the principles
of equality for women. My own life – and I would say those of the women
Bobel has portrayed – is an ongoing pursuit of the balance between
trust and intellect. Trust, after all, is one of the cornerstones of
non-coercive parenting and life learning. Taking ownership of our own
education and allowing our children to own theirs requires trust in what
we call “human nature”. In the case of our children, that means
trusting that they will behave sociably and want to learn things,
including both academic knowledge and social skills...with our help and
example, of course. Learning in Nature – February 16, 2005 There was a piece at the back of our backyard that was bordered on one side by the green wooden wall of a ramshackle garage and on the opposite side and back by a high (or so it seemed to me at the time) unpainted wooden fence. Dense foliage from a big, old elm tree located just beyond the fence in the neighbor’s yard created a summertime roof. It also meant that the corner was dark and a bit damp, making it useless for growing grass, roses or petunias, which constituted my parents’ definition of gardening. So they dumped grass and hedge clippings there, along with end-of-season annuals, dead roses and petunias. There were also a couple of fairly large rocks. Going there was forbidden due to mosquitoes, thorns and lots of other potential dangers...and some imagined ones too. When I was young, I obeyed the rule. I am not sure whether the hype convinced me of the danger or I just hadn’t learned to question authority. But I remember standing on the grass looking longingly – or perhaps just curiously – into its shady depths and inhaling the dank smell of composting greenery. I also remember the day when I ventured in and sat down
on one of the rocks. It felt wonderful. That feeling was, I suppose, a
combination of rebellious adrenaline and enjoyment of the space. It
seemed protected and cozy, yet retained a hint of danger due to its
“wildness” and forbidden status. Having crossed the barrier, I
subsequently went there often on hot summer days, taking a book and my
day dreams. Sometimes my feelings of anger or frustration also
accompanied me, to be left buried under the decaying grass. It was a
deliciously private place, and a healing one too. Eventually, as I got
too big to sit comfortably on the rock, I dragged a lawn chair there. But
I never felt that the chair belonged; it was too much civilization in my
wilderness. My mother must have noticed the chair but, oddly, I don’t
recall if she put an end to my visits or not. Perhaps I outgrew that
private place, replacing solitude with boys and broader horizons. But as
my first taste of Nature amid asphalt and stucco, it was the beginning of
a life-long reverence for that which is wild, green and living...and of
an understanding of the healing powers of Nature. Thinking Big – November 4, 2004 Author Kent M. Keith has reclaimed some writing he’d done in university that had taken on a life of its own via the Internet. His ten “Paradoxical Commandments” are thoughts like: “Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.” and “The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.” and “People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.” Most of us have self-centered or even narcissistic people in our lives and probably find it a challenge to love them anyway. These folks – Keith calls them “small people” – see things solely in terms of their own power, comfort or convenience. Now, a little self-interest is a good thing, and some people – women who grew up a generation ago, especially – struggle with the problem of being self-sacrificing to a fault. But “small people” believe that what is best for them is also best for their families, organizations or communities. In other words, their lives are no bigger than their immediate wants, needs and fears and they are often threatened by big ideas. The founding fathers of the United States had a big idea
for a democratic country populated with independent individuals. Susan
B. Anthony and Martin Luther King Jr. had big ideas about the equality
of women and blacks. I hope that fear hasn’t permanently sidelined or
skewed those big ideas in America. In a globalized world, the lives of
Americans are, indeed, much bigger than their immediate wants, needs and
fears. Another great American, Henry David Thoreau, asked a pertinent
question: “Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look
through each other’s eyes for an instant?” Good advice for both
those Americans who are happy with the results of the U.S. presidential
election and those in America and the rest of the world who aren’t. Banned Books Week
–
September
29, 2004 Each year, the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom receives hundreds of reports on books and other materials that were “challenged” (asked to be removed from school or library shelves.) The ALA estimates the number represents only about a quarter of the actual challenges. “Most Challenged” titles include the popular Harry Potter series of fantasy books for children by J.K. Rowling. The series draws complaints from parents and others who believe the books promote witchcraft to children. Other titles that have been censored over the years include To Kill a Mockingbird (which looks at the impact of prejudice on society), Brave New World (where babies are conditioned to hate books) and Fahrenheit 451 (where firemen burn books). Hmmmm. Banned Books Week emphasizes the freedom to
choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion
might be considered unorthodox or unpopular. It also highlights the
importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular
viewpoints to all who wish to read them. Those two principles form the
foundation of our democracy. Thanks to the organizers of Banned Books
Week for reminding us of the dangers of censorship. Or
Are They Growing Up Too Slowly? – August 9, 2004 So which trend is it anyway?? Parents rushing their kids into adulthood before they’re ready (see yesterday’s rant, below) or parents not allowing them to grow up? Can’t be both at the same time. Let’s
just listen to our kids and our hearts; ignore the trends, the fads
and...this is heresy coming from a writer...the books; respect our kids
for the individuals they are; stop beating ourselves up for not being
perfect parents; and enjoy ourselves and our families. Now there’s a
concept! At
Their Own Speed – August 8, 2004 But chatting with In his book The Hurried Child, David Elkind writes that in blurring the boundaries of what is age appropriate, by expecting or imposing too much too soon, we force our kids to grow up too fast. But what, I argued with myself this morning, is “age appropriate”? And who decides? Elkind’s basic premise is that parents have pushed their children emotionally and intellectually too far, too fast. He says that today’s parents think of their kids as Superkids, so competent and so mature that they need adults very little. Why? Because, he believes, parents, who are building careers, blending families or struggling as single parents, have no time for child rearing. Having a competent Superkid relieves these parents of guilt, but it places too much stress on the children themselves. British psychologist Terri Apter takes Elkind’s premise a step farther. In her book The Myth of Maturity, she argues against the notion that when children finish high school or college and land a job they instantly become autonomous, responsible adults. This myth of maturity, she writes, is harming our kids. While a young person may appear to function as an adult, in reality they are often in turmoil, depressed and overwhelmed by life. So instead of withdrawing emotional or practical support so that their teenager can solve his or her own problems, Apter says we really should be providing continued guidance and support, while also requiring respect and independence. Looking back, I do recall feeling relieved (OK, smug too) that my kids seemed to be navigating teenagedom fairly easily. However, listening to them now, I realize that we probably sometimes fell off the fine line between expecting too much and too little. And while never withdrawing emotional support, their father did give them some not-so-subtle nudges out of the nest. But we didn’t feel any pressure to go along with the Superkid image out of fear that Heidi and Melanie would “lag behind”. And as autonomous, responsible children and teens, they naturally avoided the jolt that happens to the schooled kids Apter studied. And even though – for whatever reasons – I missed some things with which I probably could have helped, they grew quite gracefully into their 20s and now their 30s.Then, just as I had laid that concern to rest, I went
shopping and noticed a plethora of adult-aimed items – from T-shirts
and purses to tea towels – featuring Care Bears, Hello Kitty, Blues
Cues and various Disney characters. Are young people, I wondered,
feeling so cheated out of childhood that they have this level of
nostalgia for novelties geared to a much younger audience? Are they
revisiting the fantasy world of childhood because the real world is so
scary, as an article in yesterday’s Toronto
Star (one of a recent spate in the mainstream media) suggests?
Writes columnist Margo Varadi, “There comes a point when young people
can’t deal with the anxiety of feeling vulnerable all the time and
want to be reassured.” Hmmm, I thought, as I read that line. There
comes a point when people of all ages can’t deal with the anxiety of
feeling vulnerable and want to be reassured! Maybe we all need a dose of
childhood from time to time just because it’s comforting. Maybe
nostalgia thrives as the world gets scarier. Lack of Power – April 21, 2004 Milner’s
findings also suggest that our consumer society plays an influential
role in the lives of status-conscious teenagers: “Perhaps the thing
that American secondary education teaches most effectively is a desire
to consume,” he writes. Learning and
Forgetting – April 19, 2004 In this book, which is one of many he has written, Smith
writes at length about short- and long-term memory. He explains that the
effort to memorize interferes with memorization because it destroys
understanding. Rote memorization, he says, puts things in the wrong
place (i.e. in short-term memory, where you can only hold onto something
for as long as you rehearse it). When something goes into long-term
memory, on the other hand, information is organized and retrieved on the
basis of the sense they make to us. The way to hold something in
long-term memory is – as anyone knows who has tried to remember a new
acquaintance’s name at a cocktail party – to relate it to something
you already know. But, writes Smith, when you are trying to learn
something there is no need to worry about finding something you can
relate the new knowledge to, “because that will take place
automatically if you understand what you are doing.” So, he
recommends, don’t even think about it. “Get on with enjoying what
you are reading – or look around for something else that is [more]
interesting and does makes sense to you.” In short, the more absorbed
we are in an activity, the more we learn about it. Teenage Lib
Handbook Author Featured – April 12, 2004
Radical Holt Book Back in Print
– April 4, 2004
Return
to current weblog copyright © Wendy Priesnitz 2004-2007 |
Topics & Passions: natural learning
|
